BRONX, N.Y. (Aug. 31, 2023) – The Fordham men's soccer team will kick off a loaded Labor Day Weekend on Friday night when it hosts the University of Pennsylvania for a 7 p.m. match at Jack Coffey Field.  The Rams will then travel to the nation's capital for a Monday showdown against 2019 National Champion Georgetown.
 
Friday night's game can be watched live on MSG and ESPN+.  Monday's contest with the Hoyas, which will kick off at 1 p.m., can be seen on FloFC, which requires a subscription.
 
Both Penn and Georgetown received votes in Tuesday's first in-season edition of the United Soccer Coaches poll.  Last fall, the Quakers and the Hoyas combined to win 25 games and both reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
The Rams are set to welcome the Quakers after opening the season with a decisive home win over Sacred Heart and a draw against Saint Francis on the road.  Against the Pioneers last Thursday, Fordham jumped ahead early and never looked back, as Timo Hummirch netted a penalty kick in the 28^th minute before Kai Griese and Florian Deletioglu tacked on second-half insurance markers.  Three days later in Loretto, Pa., the Rams dominated the opening half of action before taking the game's only lead on another Deletioglu goal in the 50^th minute.  Saint Francis, however, equalized in the 69^th minute and held the Rams scoreless the rest of the way to secure a 1-1 draw.
 
All four of the Rams' goals this season have been scored by players hailing from Germany.  Additionally, two of the Rams' four assists have been supplied by Germans.
 
Fordham boasts one of the nation's most experienced rosters, carrying 10 graduate students and five seniors.  Of the 11 players to start each of the Rams' first two contests, only two—Nathan Simes and Daniel D'Ippolito— are underclassmen. 
 
The Rams will look to remain unbeaten through three contests for the first time since the spring of 2021, when Fordham went 7-0-2 and won an A-10 title before falling to eventual national champion Marshall in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. 
 
Penn will begin its 2023 season at Jack Coffey Field on Friday after going 13-3-2 and capturing an Ivy League title last fall.  The Quakers return four of their top six point producers from a season ago, led by reigning Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year Stas Korzeniowski, who scored 11 goals and added six assists for 28 points as a sophomore.  The Quakers also welcome back the reigning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year in Leo Burney.
 
2022 BIG EAST Regular Season Champion Georgetown returns four all-conference selections from last season's team that went 12-6-3 overall and 8-1-1 in league play.
 
The Hoyas went 1-1 on a West Coast swing to start the 2023 campaign, defeating Santa Clara, 3-2, before falling to No. 7 Stanford, 5-1, in Palo Alto.  Jacob Murrell, the team's leading scorer with seven goals a season ago, found the back of the net three times in the Hoyas' opening pair of contests.  Ryan Schewe and Tenzing Manske split time between the pipes on opening weekend, as each started and played the full 90 minutes of one game.